Comparison between different graphical simulation methods in Simulink

Dear all! To the best of my knowledge, I know three methods that Simulink offers for visual simulations and they are Simscape (Multibody), Simulink 3D Simulation and Unreal Engine Plug-in (and other external software). Please correct or introduce me to others if possible.

Anyway, is there a comparison on which methods are suitable for which purposes?

Currently, I am utilising Simscape Multibody to simulate a UAV swarm. When I tried to import a few CAD model of objects (building, cars, ...) to be the background environment, the compilation took really long (since a CAD file was about 40Mb, I understand why it took time). However, there are some photorealistic UAV example simulations (Unreal Engine) that are available in Simulink and they don't take a long compilation time. I wonder whether to understand a photorealistic simulation environment should be more computationally demanding than Simscape Multibody is correct in the case of Simulink plug-in to Unreal Engine. Let just say all the CAD files and the Unreal Engine scene are in the same size for comparison.

Another thing, are there instructions on how to import a custom UAV in the simulation with Unreal Engine?

Thank you very much for your answer!

Answer 1

[Jianxin Sun]

Hi Hoang,

The following documentation should help you get started with customizing the Unreal scene and UAV:

Scene customization: https://www.mathworks.com/help/uav/ug/customize-3d-scenes-for-automated-driving.html

UAV customization: https://www.mathworks.com/help/uav/ug/prepare-custom-vehicle-mesh-for-the-unreal-editor.html#mw_f38d2bb5-7f57-4f5c-a903-3e96c39bcbc7

You can use multiple Simulation 3D UAV Vehicle blocks to drive multiple UAVs in the Unreal scene.

The Unreal Simulation performance depends on the sensors you want to simulate. If you only use it as a visualization tool, the performance should be able to achieve 30 FPS if your system meets the hardware requirement.

Thanks,

Jianxin